StarCraft: Heritage
by Admiral Kelley
Summary: Fate often times gets others to do it's bidding, preferring to work behind the scenes to complete it’s tale, and the meeting of three separate races on the edge of the Galaxy is a story that spans millennia.....[Ch 2 added]
1. Remains

StarCraft: Heritage By Admiral Kelley

Warning! This fic contains language and material that may not be suitable for younger readers so if you go off and kill a bunch of people you can't blame that impulse on this fic! You've had fair warning.

**StarCraft: Heritage**By Admiral Kelley

Version: 2.0 

Story Consultations by:SCUZ, Gene Este, Lucifer Daimaou, and Bob the Conqueror 

_Beta reading by: _Gene Este, SCUZ, Lucifer Daimaou__

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**Legal Crap: **You will note that the Author of this story, CINCADFDODT Admiral Johnathan Kelley, is a man of honor and integrity and that as such anything in this fic that he does not own does not belong to him. Everything else is claimed as intellectual property of Admiral Johnathan Kelley. Were you to violate his unique outlook on copyright law he would give you a lesson in honor and integrity by systematically beating your bones into dust with an ice pick before disemboweling you with a spoon. You should trust us when we say it will be a lesson that you will never forget, much less survive.Now that we've gotten the legal crap out of the way we encourage you to sit back, relax, and enjoy "StarCraft: Heritage" by Admiral Kelley and you're encouraged to review with either an honest outlook or a creative lie depending upon the content of your review. 

**Technical Side note:** Please notice that I've taken the liberty of "creatively interpreting" the technologies and capabilities of the SC races, getting each one to fight harder, smarter, and to add to their overall badass factor. Futile attempts to lynch me for this will result in unfavorable encounters with a species more dreaded than the Zerg, more cunning than the Terrans, and more invincible than the Protoss, I am of course talking about the FFN admin. Enjoy…

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_"But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near."_** - _Andrew Marvell_****__**

_I love the smell of Creep in the morning; it smells like victory_ and indeed it had been, though a very costly one. Entire Broods had been savaged, billions of minerals and other resources spent on rebuilding to replace those that had been lost but in the end it had all shifted her way. Despite the best efforts of two separate armies Aiur had fallen, been abandoned, and now it lay before Sahra Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, as a beckoning trophy filled with the secrets of the universe that the Protoss had been hiding from outsiders ever since the day when the Xel'Naga abandoned them to the Aeon of Strife.

Even now as her occupation began to take hold she was learning new and very useful things that Protoss civilization had left behind when it scurried from the planet like a frightened dog. Her ever-expanding fields of Creep encountered no resistance as they probed the nooks and crannies of Aiur. But even though the bulk of the Protoss had run there were still a few with the tenacity to stay and fight.

From the cliff she was perched on Kerrigan watched with mild fascination as her forces overwhelmed a small pocket of Protoss stragglers attempting to block her entrance into an ancient crystalline structure buried deep within an inactive volcano. Kerrigan wanted to see what kind of technology would be so critical as to warrant such determination in it's protection, and when the Queen of Blades wanted something the whole of the Swarm rushed to fulfill her desires.

_It seems so unfair for those poor Protoss down there, I almost feel sorry for them…almost _she smiled evilly as a flock of Guardians lazily drifted over her head swirling the sand as their wings beat the air for lift. Kerrigan made a point of having her minions fill the air with their cry so that the Protoss would see them coming. She loved watching the half-second of fear pass on the faces and in minds of the Protoss warriors before it hardened into resolve and a need to take as many opponents with them into the afterlife as possible.

_"My life for Aiur!" _Kerrigan heard the telepathic shout and knew that victory was at hand. Of the twelve remaining Zealots and one High Templar all charged into battle chased by the Guardians as they peppered the ground with lethal shots of condensed acid. Three Zealots lost their plasma shields halfway to the horde and immediately began to melt as the Guardians soaked them in corrosive chemicals. With his superior range the High Templar was the first to strike conjuring up a Psionic Storm to soften the Zerg ahead with the last of his energy and then the Guardians too then overtook him. The blazing blue streaks of energy arched from the heavens and roasted the Zerg within their chitin armor for a full minute before the storm dissipated leaving a horde that was now dazed and slightly confused.

With weakened enemies to pounce upon the Zealots tore into the assorted Zerglings and Hydralisks with an unholy fury literally ripping the Zerg apart with their Psionic blades and bare hands. But even with their superior weaponry and skill the Protoss were still outnumbered and slowly the brave warriors of Aiur were knocked off one by one as their shields gave way followed by their armor and then their flesh all the while fighting. In the end that small band of resistors had cost Kerrigan a total of fifty Zerglings and nearly twenty-five Hydralisks. She sent commands to nearby Hive clusters for the replacing of those fallen Zerg while at the same time summoning her right hand Cerebrate, Ko'z. 

"_Yes my queen?"_ Kerrigan turned at the telepathic call of a Cerebrate. Near the entrance of the canyon there was a mass of white flesh skittering across the ground on caterpillar-like legs with a slew of bodyguards in evidence. The security was standard since Cerebrates were still valuable assets and consequently very hard to come by. Kerrigan patted Ko'z as he finally came to a halt next to her.

"_We encountered heavy resistance when trying to enter this area; you will accompany me to see what got them so revved up about defense." _The Cerebrate jiggled like a bag of jelly for the physical response to a thought of agreement.

"_Of course my Queen, Shall a Zergling be appropriate for the task?"_Ko'z asked as he took one glance at the narrow cavern entrance knowing he himself would never fit.

"_Cease your babbling and get on with it," _Kerrigan answered with a threatening undertone. Ko'z was one of her most cunning Cerebrates but sometimes, especially in the presence of his Queen; he was just too damn timid to make simple choices. In response a lone Zergling stepped forth from Ko'z's private body guard and signaled it's readiness by beating it's claws on the ground and screeching. Kerrigan nodded and walked into the cavern with the Zergling in tow.

It was a few minutes before they happened upon anything interesting. Suddenly without any reason the old black volcanic stones stopped and the path was paved with crystals, not just any crystals, Kerrigan realized at once, but Khayderin crystals, those very rare minerals that were capable of storing massive amounts of power in their latent forms. "_Ko'z, are these what I think they are?"_The Zergling beside her examined the floor and tapped it experimentally with a claw making an interesting _click click_ with the sharp point. 

"_They are, my Queen and there appears to be a great deal of them,"_ they pressed on down the tunnel of crystal very curious as to what lay ahead. They found it five minutes later when the tunnel emptied out into a massively large cavern. The walls soared upwards to form a dome and were styled after a honeycomb. Were it not for the rock this whole place was imbedded in it would have been open to the air. Kerrigan was in uncharacteristic awe of her surroundings. 

There also seemed to be some sort of…energy pulsing throughout the structure to keep the crystals glowing. The resulting effect was that the entirety of the chamber was illuminated in an eerie dark blue. Kerrigan followed the path the energy pulses took and her eyes settled upon he one thing that was not made of crystal. The Zergling Ko'z had assigned as his stand in for this venture was already there. Like all Protoss constructs this console appeared to have been carved from golden lightning but at the same time it looked extremely unProtoss in the control functions. Ko'z realized it first, the Zerglingscratching it's dog-like head in an unconscious physical manifestation to the confusion Ko'z was feeling.

"My Queen, these scriptures are nothing of Protoss make. If I read them correctly they appear to be...Xel'Naga in origin."

_ _

_"A Xel'Naga temple you think?"_Kerrigan wondered, "_those ancient hags certainly got around."_

_"It appears to be so but for what purpose?"_ To answer his question Ko'z commanded his Zergling to begin tapping on the panel a specific set of sequences that asked for data retrieval. But the response was anything but data. All at once the pulsing energies solidified into a solid glow banishing the mysterious luminescence and replaced by a continuous stream of light, and with the light level increase so went an increase in temperature. Ko'z's Zergling screeched as the air began to burn. When vision was just barely impossible a low thrum began that shook the ground and made it difficult for the Queen of Blades to remain upright. For a brief second it seemed as if all sensations stopped while time froze in place, then the moment was over and Kerrigan found herself in the middle of what felt like a nuclear blast. 

The light and sound was so intense that Kerrigan was forced to close her eyes and slap her hands over her ears. For what seemed like an eternity Kerrigan was deprived of any sense of the world around her. Then without any preemptive warning it all stopped. As she opened her eyes she found herself staring at the ceiling from the floor…_how did I get down here? _And up above the honeycomb was still there but now it was surrounded by air and not rock. Whatever the hell had just happened it'd melted the surrounding volcanic rock clean off exposing the Temple to open atmosphere. Kerrigan picked herself up off the crystal floor and looked around, the Zergling was now a melting pile of goo and her own chitin armor was slightly crisp, but otherwise nothing seriously damaged.

_"My Queen, are you alright?"_Kerrigan turned to the source of the call to see Ko'z skittering towards her through a high arch in the wall she hadn't noticed before. 

_"Yes, Yes of course! Ko'z what the hell was that?"_Kerrigan demanded. The bubbly white ball of flesh quivered in what Kerrigan could see as genuine excitement.

_"It was a short-lived time rift! My Queen this temple possesses the technology to bend time and space in a way that the Protoss could only dream!" _Instead of sharing in her Cerebrates enthusiasm Kerrigan examined this new element with a firmer hand. For a long time the Swarm had been denied full manipulation of the space-time continuum, limited to generating warp bubbles and rifts for quick access between systems because no matter how many races the Swarm had incorporated none of them had ever developed anything more advanced. Obviously this temple must have been highly sophisticated even for the Xel'Naga else the Overmind would've known of it when the Swarm assimilated them. 

The ambient temperature in the temple had returned to "normal" and pulses of energy gradually replaced the dark bluish light generated by the crystals. "_Set up a base of defense for this area Ko'z," _Kerrigan ordered while smiling, "_and immediately begin study of this new toy. I want to make use of it as soon as possible."_

_ _

_"Yes my Queen,"_ Ko'z accepted, already calling Drones from the nearby Hive Clusters to lay the foundations for a new defensive matrix. 

** **

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Space, like time, was vast and unending, extending for as far as the eye could see and then some. Timely travel through the stars had always been thought to be an impossible process, and was, until the advent of warp technology. Now with the ability to reach any point in the galaxy within ones own lifetime humanity had embraced the stars building massive ships to ferry them across their domain. But ships were mechanical things and like all mechanical things they broke down. The mighty UED expeditionary force left Earth orbit and had taken only ten years to travel to the Koprulu sector because of improvements in warp engine design, but those same improvements had been hastily approved and several glaring errors were ignored.

One of those was their susceptibility to warp failure when near the gravitational field of a sun. It had only happened once but once was enough. The entire battle group had fallen out of warp with varying degrees damage. The Adjutant responsible for overseeing the ships to Koprulu deemed the event unworthy of waking any of the crews from cryo sleep. As soon as repairs were complete on the vast majority of the ships the UED force was under way again. But one fleet in particular had sustained more damage then the others, 7th fleet. When the rest of the UED ships went to warp they were still undergoing repairs and continued along that line for the next few months before finally chasing after their comrades.

The ranking officer of 7th Fleet, General Samson, had not been informed of this until a week before they were scheduled to drop out of warp when the crews were brought out of cryo-sleep. Samson's first action after hearing this was to shoot the Adjutant display screen in anger. 7th fleet was by no means vital to the success of the UED mission, being comprised of only three Armored Marine Divisions, thirty Wraith squadrons, ten Valkyrie squadrons, thirty Battlecruisers and half that number of science vessels. In short 7th Fleet was a light scientific support group whose mission revolved around collecting data on the Overmind when the UED managed to finally occupy Char, the suspected Zerg home world. Samson spent the remainder of his warp travel seething over the debriefing he would have to endure from that pompous bastard, Admiral DuGalle. However when 7th Fleet did finally drop out of warp they did not receive the welcome they had been expecting.

Not surprisingly their first contact with the Koprulu was with a Zerg patrol force.7th Fleet found themselves out numbered and out gunned by the Swarm and were forced to run for it. But before they could escape to the relative safety of warp travel many of their number perished in the short-lived skirmish with the Zerg. Now injured, confused and lost, the survivors of 7th Fleet spent their time hopping from system to system in hopes of escaping the ever-present Zerg who seemed to be taking a special interest in eradicating them.After several more minor skirmishes and random warp jumps they emerged in the middle of a debris field that analysis had shown to be UED in origin. 

With a low supply margin and a mass of usable materials spread before them General Samson ordered an immediate salvage operation of the debris field in hopes of replenishing 7th Fleet's material losses and maybe finding out what had gone wrong. This entire sector was supposed to have been conquered by now or so the simulations had said.

General Samson strode across the bridge of the _Centurion_, 7th Fleet's command ship keeping his eye on the goings on. Though at the moment he would've preferred to sit the bulky nature of the CMC armor did not allow that. But Samson did enjoy the heavy clomping of his armored boots on the neosteel deck, which sort of made up for the minor discomfort. Outside the bridge viewing portals huge chunks of twisted, scarred, debris drifted by. Samson had no doubt that the _Centurion_'s handlers were having a hell of a time avoiding collisions while they maneuvered to get good vantage points for the scanner techies that were flagging the best possible pieces of garbage out there for salvage. Naturally Samson was very surprised when one of the garbage chucks decided to answer back.

"Captain Myers!" One of the techies called to _Centurion_'s master. Captain Myers pulled himself away from a progress report and went over to the source of the call, Samson in his wake.

"Report."

"Sensors indicate a functioning power source in the vicinity but we can't localize it. Too much interference from the debris sir." The Captain nodded as he examined the readout.

"Conn, bring the bow down 40 degrees and proceed at 1/3." The man handling the controls made the necessary adjustments. General Samson watched the events without saying a word. Myers could handle his ship without "adult" supervision. Besides Samson wasn't some stuck up fleet admiral who sat around and moved ships here and there, he was a Marine who got down and dirty.

"Aye sir, my bow is lowered 20 degrees and I am proceeding at 1/3," the man visibly frowned, "got some debris in our way sir. Compensating."

"Our forward cameras operational?" Samson finally decided to do something.

"Aye sir," Sensors indicated, "repairs from the last Zerg attack have been completed on our forward array. The video feeds should be working now"

"Transfer the take to my screen." Samson ordered. A second later after the initial static had cleared it was replaced by the black and white image of the debris field. Just ahead of _Centurion_ there were the remains of a Behemoth battle cruiser. Conn was doing his best to bring _Centurion_ well below the debris so as to avoid collision. When Centurion cleared the debris to Conn's satisfaction the captain made another order suggested by Sensors.

"Conn bring the bow up 50 degrees and drop to one quarter." 

"Aye sir." The screen in front of Samson showed the vast emptiness of space soon replaced by a large black…._Behemoth_?Sensors confirmed it a second later. There in space another Behemoth battle cruiser lay twisting about like an injured creature, but this one seemed relatively unscarred.

"Bring us to within 5 kay's," Myers ordered next, "Sir I expect you'll be wanting to send out a boarding party to look for survivors?" Funny as that idea seemed to some a ship in the condition as the one before them might have some breathable atmosphere and rations locked away in some deep compartment, and where there's living space there would be survivors, humans could be remarkably resilient when they wanted to be. A nod from the general was all Myers needed. "Chief!" He called next. A burly mass of a black man in armor emerged from the crowd of techies and acknowledged.

"Yeah Cap'n?" Master Chief Bond had, of course, listened in on his captains conversation, like the good Chief that he was, and had set up the necessary comm. link. It was his job to make the captains tasks smoother and to keep his and the XO's ass planted firmly in reality after all.

"Get me a link open to the officers quarters, Lieutenant Andrews." Samson ordered.

"Aye sir."

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_If I ever meet the guy who designed the crew space on a drop ship I'm gonna shove my boot so **far**__up his ass…_Sergeant Mike Baxter had acquired enough flight time in these uncomfortable drop ships to get him free vacation travel back on Earth for several lifetimes, if the UED would let him have it, and if he actually survived through this clusterfuck of an "expedition"

"Coming up on target Sergeant, ready your squad for entry." Baxter chuckled darkly at that, _sure, my vast and powerful squad of four._All of the rest had been left aboard _Paris _when her reactor went. Himself, his XO Corporal John Stevens, and Privates Jack Anderson and Chuck Alden had enough sense to run for it, making them the only survivors. Baxter had his suspicions about why he was assigned this glorified salvage Op, all of them bad but it was an Op and Baxter was sure everyone was glad to have the opportunity to do something besides safety drills and sifting through dead bodies for ammo and food. 

His three marines stood as the drop ship angled itself parallel to the hull of the derelict, the process was known as "screwing", and closed in slowly. They were taking an emergency hatch in as opposed to the hangers to avoid blowing what little atmosphere remained in this Behemoth into the vacuum. A magnetic _clump_ announced their arrival. Baxter checked that his squad had their face shields down and their gear properly stowed one last time before giving final authorization to the pilot before the air was vented to match the inside pressure.

"Squad, move out!" Baxter ordered. The hunt began.

The inside was surprisingly quiet and devoid of anything. Aside from the dim lighting, lack of substantial atmosphere, lack of crew, and full gravity this would've been indistinguishable from any other Behemoth in the fleet. Next to Baxter Cpl. Stevens tapped his neosteel-armored helmet.

"Comm check, you picking this up okay Lieutenant?"

"Transmission is clear, continue on to your objective." Lieutenant Bart Andrews answered from his station back on the dropship, watching the progress of his marines through their "hellcams" and an overlay map. The marines had just turned a corner and Fifty meters ahead their objective waited, a room where a system analysis had detected an active computer outlet. 

"Hold up," Baxter commanded with a raised hand. His rifle ahead of him he took a few steps forward and stopped. In front of him was the slouched remains of a marine, from one the colonies the UED had hoped to bring under their control, Baxter managed to guess right away from the man's unkempt appearance. This one was the victim of stimpack OD judging by the vacant look in his eyes. Because the militaries around these parts relied on drafted criminals and murderers they put narcotics into the stimpacks to make the soldiers dependent upon them, and then added in a neural alteration, thereby ensuring total loyalty. _Just one more reason to hate them_ Baxter thought. Like all UED Marines had immense professional disrespect for these men who fought for their daily dosages of drugs and not for their home.

"Just some old stiff Sarge," Stevens observed from behind. "pat him down for salvageables?"

"You kiddin?" Alden asked in surprise, "those bastards probably lace the MRE's with narcs too. Wouldn't do us good to be eatin that shit." 

"I could do with a dose of unreality right about now," Anderson added in, "something's not right here, we're overlooking something." 

"Maybe on the way back, right now let's just get to that terminal." Baxter said, pretending to ignore the privates. The marines pressed on down the rest of the long empty corridor and found their way into the room, and what a sight waited for them.

"Well shit…" Stevens breathed as he took a peek in. "Hey Lieutenant what ship are we on?"

"Unknown, it's IFF is out and the hull markings seem to have been blown off."

"Well sir, if I'm not mistaken, this dead body you should be seeing is DuGalle, That's means we're probably on the _Alexander_."

_Holy shit that **is** DuGalle_ Andrews immediately saw through the hellcam, hunched over his desk in a pool of congealed blood and completely lifeless, a .38 pistol in his right hand and an unfinished glass of wine along with an old record player sitting behind him. His whole body was illuminated by a dull green glow from the still active computer screen on his desk.

"Dumbass must've shot himself," Alden remarked, " I mean I know them Navy pukes gots bad aim but Jeeesus!" 

"Stow it private and get that uplink set," Baxter ordered. Alden obeyed without another word and pulled a small cylinder from his armored fanny pack. He then attached it to some of the exposed wire behind the terminal and set the cylinder down.

"Download starting Sarge," Alden reported while looking on the screen, "how's the uplink look elltee?"

"Coming through nice and clear, now how about finding the power source for all this, engineering is a dead zone and whatever's feeding this terminal and the 'puter core is coming from somewhere a hundred meters down the hall from you."

"Dibs," Stevens claimed first, "sorry admiral but I'll have to take my leave of you now," Stevens bowed to the corpse before departing and slowly making his way further into the bowels of the ship.

Like all marines Stevens loved his armor, he loved the added strength it gave, loved the accuracy of the fire, loved the optics, loved the multiple environment capabilities, and most of all he loved the heavy sounds of his footfalls on metal decks. _Clump…Clump…Clump…_he never got tired of it _Clump…Clump…Squish_ Stevens froze in place; _neosteel doesn't go squish..._he thought. Under his foot a pinkish pulsating carpet of oozing flesh, better known as Creep, was slow worming it's way across the deck.

"Uhh Sarge, we aren't the only ones interested in this ship…" Stevens slowly began to back away, knowing that by stepping on the Creep he'd probably set off an alarm. A low liquid hiss from behind heralded that as true. Even with the added bulk of his armor Stevens was still dwarfed by the mass of claws and chitin blocking his only way out. It's angry hiss, impossibly loud in the depleted atmosphere, marked it as a Hydralisk even before Stevens turned to face it. It's two massive scythe claws were at it's sides and the chest cavity which housed the acid spine projectiles quivered slightly as the Hydra mulled for a brief second on how best to consume this Terran. Viewed abstractly one might think that this Hydra was inviting Stevens into a friendly hug, it was an offer Stevens couldn't refuse, trapped as he was and unable to kill the Hydra before it got him.

If there's one thing a Hydra would not expect a Terran to do in close quarters combat it would be to get closer, but Stevens knew a few things that the Hydra didn't. Stevens not only got closer, he moved up chest to chest with the Hydra to ensure his safety, too fast for the Hydra to react in time. The reason that Zerg were so good at penetrating armor was that they had evolved a muscular system that provided maximum force and leverage to the claws and anything directly ahead of them, by moving in close Stevens not only prevented the Hydra from getting enough leverage to hack at his armor but he also kept the chest plates that covered the acid spine launcher from opening. As a final defensive act Stevens latched onto the exposed muscles on the Hydra's arm, pinching a nerve that sent pain signals into the Hydras tiny little mind, causing it to spasm.

Stevens could feel the creature gnawing at the top of his helmet in anger but felt no fear over it; the Hydra's jaws were not strong enough to crack it open. But while he was safe from this Zerg there would be others, and they would be able to get to him. With all the strength he and the armor could muster Stevens pulled at the Hydra's muscles, intent on ripping them out. It took an agonizing three seconds before the flesh gave way. Now, with the Hydra preoccupied by even more pain Stevens could kill it. In one smooth motion Stevens leaped back and brought his Gauss rifle to bear on the creature, aiming for it's cavernous mouth. The last thing to go through that Hydra's mind was an 8mm spike. More angry hisses began to emanate from the Creep infested interior of the _Alexander, _the closest of all coming from a nearby corridor where the now dead Hydra must've come from. Stevens left a delayed fragmentation grenade behind as a surprise and bolted back the way he'd come.

The rest of the squad, having seen Stevens predicament on the hellcams, was already lined up and moving back to the drop ship.The two privates took up the rear ten meters back while Sgt. Baxter waited for his corporal to catch up, and not a moment too soon. The Frag grenade went off down the corridor throwing shrapnel and bug bits around the corner followed a moment after that by the bugs that had run into it. Zerglings, 'lings for short, the dog sized terrors that were just a hair smarter than a rock, lot's of them. And that meant the typical retreat tactic of running your ass off would be futile in this instance since 'lings are faster than a Terran, even a Terran hyped up on stimpacks. 

"Cover fire!" Baxter commanded. Alden and Anderson responded immediately with two 40mm grenades that impacted against the living wave of 'lings. Shrieks of pain and rage echoed within the confines of the hall as Baxter and Stevens ran back under covering fire from Alden and Anderson. Ten meters away from both of the privates backsides Baxter and Stevens launched their own grenades, the signal for the two privates to fall back behind them and repeat the process ten meters farther back. 

The leapfrog maneuver was repeated over and over until they'd come within sight of the emergency hatch with the incessant _tick tick tick_ of a thousand claws chasing after them. Lieutenant Andrews was standing in the corridor in full armor toting two Gauss rifles, he started his covering fire immediately allowing the marines to abandon their maneuvering and bolt for the drop ship. Andrews continued to fire until he saw each of his marines dive into the hatch, his good byes to the 'lings included a spread of 40mm grenades before dogging the hatch shut behind him. 

The pilot was experienced enough to know that they had to leave fast, this Behemoth was obviously infested, and if the Hive within was advanced enough to spawn Hydra's there was a good chance there could be Mutalisks about. The pilot's suspicions were confirmed when she saw movement on the outside of the _Alexander's_ superstructure. The drop ship detached itself from the vessel and sped off to _Centurion_ five kilometers away. But looking back at the Swarm that was giving chase the pilot knew she'd never make it without some help.

"This is Delta one five, extraction complete but I'm being swarmed, I repeat, swarmed by multiple hostiles. Requesting Y-strike on the derelict dead aft of me." 

"Delta one five, this is _Centurion_, Y-Strike approved. Be sure to duck commander." Captain Myers nodded to Bond, who in turn gave Tactical final authorization.

"Sir, Yamato cannon is charged and ready in all respects. We have a solution on the _Alexander_."

"Execute Y-Strike, now, now, now!" With such a dangerous weapon at their fingertips procedure was everything when using it.

"Aye sir" Tactical turned the appropriate release key and pushed the big red button. The interior lights dimmed a little as power was drawn from all over the ship and forwarded to the bow-focusing array. The ball of energy took a full two seconds to acquire the correct density and pressure. Then the magnetic bubble that held the energy burst, and a final directional push hurled the great glowing wave of orange destruction in the correct direction.

From the dropship it was an impressive, if not frightening, sight. In the vacuum of space it made no sound from scant meters above the commander's ship. Behind her the Mutalisks were awestruck by the glowing wall until in engulfed and vaporized them in it's hungry maw. The wave continued onward, roasting all of the Mutalisks in it's path. On the hull of the _Alexander _the fleeing forms of Hydra's, 'lings, Drones, and a few unidentifiable critters could be seen attempting to escape into the cold embrace of space. The wave struck the _Alexander_ broadside tearing into the ship and ripping it asunder in a massively spectacular explosion. Having wasted all of it's momentum on the _Alexander_ the Yamato wave lingered for a moment before dissipating, leaving behind nothing save a few stray scraps of titanium to mark where the UED expeditionary force's flagship had been.

"Get that dropship stowed and radio the rest of the fleet that we're bugging out." Myers ordered.

"Course sir?" Conn asked.

"Anywhere but here." Samson replied. _If the Zerg could booby-trap one ship…._

"Sirs, _California _reports heavy enemy contact at the edge of the debris field, wait a minute," Communications listened hard into his head set,"similar reports are coming in from the rest of the fleet, we've been ambushed sir."

"We have to buy them some time to get free," Samson ordered next.

"Chief is that dropship stowed?"

"Aye cap'n."

"Sound General Quarters and announce the closest warp vector out of here to the fleet. We're gonna cover their asses until they escape." Bond did as he was told and watched the video screens as _Centurion_ sped recklessly through the debris field to assist her sister ships. Bond got a good look at the Zerg force they were up against when they hit a clear area, _sucks to be us…_

***********************

It was dry here, he noticed, almost too dry. Such a thing would generate bad stalking conditions. Dust trails would be visible for miles and the sparse vegetation would crack and crumple at the slightest touch, making unnecessary noise that could alert their enemy and spoil the chance for tactical surprise. Their numbers were small and a victory could come only at a minimal loss of life. The ground breath his crouched form began to vibrate very gently as a sign that several large creatures were heading his way. His head came up slightly up out of the pile of dark sand he'd buried himself him in to sneak a very careful peek at what was coming. 

The low light of the setting sun cast the landscape into a semi-dark hue that made spotting difficult unless situated along the horizon. But he had his heightened psionic senses to help him know where to look. There ahead was a small band of bug like nightmares alertly making their way across the desert. Five Hydralisks, Demon snakes, were leading about a miniscule pack of Disposers, Zerglings; it looked to be between fifteen and twenty, with an Overlord hovering nearby for over watch. He wasn't worried when the land based Zerg looked towards his position; it was part of the plan.

Hung in from of him on a row of poles were several chunks of tender juicy meat, soaked in blood and sprinkled with a few narcotic spices proven to be irresistible to the Zerg who, despite being very well nourished by Creep, loved meat that smelled like that. With large globs of drool dribbling from their mouths the Zerg broke away from the Overlord, who didn't seem to notice, and made a b-line for the meat. Upon reaching the dripping goodies the Hydralisks dominated the feeding frenzy, leaving the scraps for the Zerglings who were more than happy with what little they got. _Wait for it_ the command was hushed to avoid Zerg detection. 

The nearby Overlord finally noticed the desertion and grunted like an annoyed parent, altering it's course to intercept the patrol it was escorting.As it drew closer it's myriad of different senses began to pick up something unusual, being connected with the Overlord the Zerg began to get a little suspicious too. As the Overlord drew closer it looked around, becoming more and more sure every second that there was something…a small flash of light in the sand.

"_For Aiur!"_ The signal was given and the plan went into action. From behind the Zerg four Dragoons leaped out of the sand and fired point-blank at the Overlord, puncturing one of the gasbags used to keep it afloat. With a shriek of pain the Overlord was consumed in a gas-fueled fireball, killing it instantly.From his place in the sand the crouched figure hurled himself up and at the Demon Snakes, igniting his Psi-blade in midair. He sailed between two dazed Demon snakes with his blade outstretched like he was trying to fly, cleanly lopping their ugly heads off as he twisted in midair and landed again in a crouch. Beside him his two Dark Templar brethren landed similarly, having finished off the rest of the Demon snakes.

The Disposers looked around in confusion. With the death of their Overlord messages from the Cerebrate had become fuzzy and leadership was supposed to go down to the Hydralisks, who now lay dead at their feet. This resulting moment of confusion worked to the attackers advantage. The Dragoons opened fire into the middle of the Disposers pack causing them to scatter on instinct. But as they ran they continually found themselves being cut down by some invisible foe before they could get far enough away to regroup and hit back. Those that ran in the direction of the Dragoons were killed with a simple _crunch_ by one of the Dragoon's four heavily armored legs. In less than a minute it was over, the victory for this small skirmish went to the Protoss. 

There was a shriek or rage from above signaled the arrival of the expected response force from the soon-to-be-nonexistent Zerg Hive. A shadow passed along the sand as three Mutalisks made their scouting run dangerously low to the ground. With confirmed prey they turned around in mid-flight and lined themselves up for their strafing run.But the plan had called for a countermeasure to this also. Just as the winged creatures were entering firing range streaks of gold arched from an unseen source and exploded within the formation, sending all three of them back to the Hell from whence they had come. The Arbiter came into view then, and the Judicator in command toggled the settings so as to deactivate the cloak field. 

The Scout that had fired the anti-matter missiles wavered into existence, along with it's travel companions. Shuttles ferrying High Templar warriors raced towards the Zerg hive, landing and dropping their passengers quickly outside the perimeter. The Carrier _Tassadar_ plodded slowly onward with it's Scout escorts and reached effective range of the Hive just as the High Templar opened up with a combined psionic storm. Whatever land forces the Zerg had had left were now roasting in their chitin. From the other three sides of the Hive three carrier battle groups converged, the Scouts launched themselves upon the Hive almost as soon as the storms had dissipated, making strafing runs into it's vital organs.

Perched above one of the Hatchery's a lone Queen, the leader of these forces since a Cerebrate wouldn't dare to ever set claw upon this rock, listened to the instructions provided by it's far away Cerebrate. _Defends the Hive, kill the intruders; consume their remains, live for the Swarm._ The Queen looked upon the invading Protoss Scouts and made ready to launch an explosive projectile of condensed sludge that would weigh them down and allow her time to muster what little forces she had left. Just as she had acquired her prey the remaining light of the day vanished as a golden cloud blotted out the horizon, the fighters had arrived. From all sides of the Hive the remote controlled fighter drones from the Protoss Carriers dove into the frenzy below with reckless abandon, making the Queen their first target. 

With a surprised screech the Queen attempted to dodge but failed to even get off of the Hatchery before being enveloped in a blue firestorm of plasma, dead. Her nearby Overlord's met the same fate an instant later. Those Zerg left on the ground found themselves without a nearby leader, from light-years away the controlling Cerebrate gave up trying to send clear instructions to it's forces and decided to abandon it's children to their own intelligence, eager for the opportunity to study the Protoss in action. Leaderless except for the few remaining Demon snakes the Zerg ranks broke apart at the seams, they were now just animals defending themselves, hurling their bodies at anything they could see. But the Protoss were using only air power to nullify this Hive and as such the only ones who were capable of fighting back were the Demon snakes, strafing runs from the Scouts and repeated bombardment from the fighters soon made that threat nonexistent. 

Abruptly the carnage stopped as the Scouts checked their ship chronographs and pulled out, the fighters in their wake. Everything in the Hive had been severely bombarded to this point, the Zerg remaining were hanging by their last thread, and now the High Templar were ready to cut it. Another combined psionic stormed was summoned, this time using all the energy that remained in their being creating a super cell type system that tore into Hive and obliterated everything in a bright blue flash. When the smoke cleared, a deep black crater had replaced the Creep that'd been there only a second before. This Hive had been purged.

The figure smiled in inwardly at the handiwork of his brethren. Duross was his name, and for the first time in many long nights he could rest a little easy. That had been the last Hive to be dealt with on Shakuras, and now they were Zerg-free yet again. _But who knows how long that will last?_ Duross mused as he praised his fellow Protoss on a job well done. The veterans within their Dragoon's had performed exceptionally well and every Protoss this day was proud once again of their warrior heritage.

This battle had ended the third invasion attempt by the Zerg ever since they had first been driven from this world. No doubt the Cerebrate who had overseen this one was concocting another, just to test some new tactic and gather more experience in engaging his people, after all, it had more than enough resources for the task.

"_Shataar," _Duross placed a hand upon the shoulder of his youngest warrior, a girl who despite her youth was shaping up to become a powerful fighter, "_You fought well today, have you learned anything new from this experience?"_

_ _

_"Of course Duross, the Zerg were foolhardy to turn their backs on a treacherous old jackal like you,"_ and such good humor too.

"_You speak the truth young one,"_ Duross turned to theother Dark Templar, "_and speaking of old…"_

_ _

_"I would just as soon treat my elders with respect,"_ Nassadus, who was only a few decades behind Duross in age, spoke very confidently "_But then again you are more of a fossil then an elder." _It was usual custom for Protoss to jeer each other about age, a way of constantly reminding themselves at how fortunate it was that they had actually lived to see it. A localized sandstorm ended conversation as a shuttle landed nearby to pick up the Dragoons, but when the two honored veterans had boarded the shuttle it did not take off, instead a High Templar strode out and walked up to Duross.

"_En Taro Adun Dark One,"_ he greeted weakly, the effort from the battle was showing.

"_En Taro Adun Templar,"_ Duross greeted back, "_what is it that you require?"_

"_The Matriarch requests your presence on a war council…"_

_ _

_"A war council?"_ Duross wondered,_ "For what purpose, have the Zerg returned already?"_

_ _

_"I'm afraid I was not told, my instructions are to bring you and your companions to the capitol."_As if to accent his request the shuttle lifted off and was soon replaced by another, empty, one. "_If you will all please board, we must make haste," _The Dark Templar complied and soon they were soaring above the nighttime deserts of Shakuras. Duross could not help but feel a certain wrongness in the air, as if something in the universe had just been thrown out of balance, but then fatigue from the battle washed away his senses and he was soon in deep meditation _Whatever imbalance there is will surely still be there when I awaken…_

_ _

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End Chapter One 

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**Admiral Kelley's Author's Notes: **I _know_ where this story shall end up if I continue on with it, I _know_ what twists and turns will occur and which pieces of the plot to put where, what I _don't_ know is weather or not I can entertain any sort of audience within this section. Thank-you for your attention and here's to hoping you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.

*Salutes with a tin flask of Coke*

Till the next time,

Admiral Kelley out!

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**SCUZ's Beta Reader Notes: (N/A)**

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**Gene Este's Beta Reader's Notes: (N/A)**

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**Lucifer Daimaou's Beta Notes: (N/A)**

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	2. Escape

Warning

_Warning! This fic contains language and material that may not be suitable for younger readers so if you go off and kill a bunch of people you can't blame that impulse on this fic! You've had fair warning._

**StarCraft: Heritage** By Admiral Kelley

**Chapter 2: v 1.0**

_Story Consultations by:_ SCUZ, Gene Este, and Bob the Conqueror

_Beta reading by: _Gene Este, SCUZ, and Epsilon

**Legal Crap: **You will note that the Author of this story, CINCADFDODT Admiral Johnathan Kelley, is a man of honor and integrity and that as such anything in this fic that he does not own does not belong to him. Everything else is claimed as intellectual property of Admiral Johnathan Kelley. Were you to violate his unique outlook on copyright law he would give you a lesson in honor and integrity by systematically beating your bones into dust with an ice pick before disemboweling you with a spoon. You should trust us when we say it will be a lesson that you will never forget, much less survive. Now that we've gotten the legal crap out of the way we encourage you to sit back, relax, and enjoy "StarCraft: Heritage" by Admiral Kelley and you're encouraged to review with either an honest outlook or a creative lie depending upon the content of your review. 

**Technical Side note:** Please notice that I've taken the liberty of "creatively interpreting" the technologies and capabilities of the SC races, getting each one to fight harder, smarter, and to add to their overall badass factor. Futile attempts to lynch me for this will result in unfavorable encounters with a species more dreaded than the Zerg, more cunning than the Terrans, and more invincible than the Protoss, I am of course talking about the FFN admin. Enjoy…

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"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. " - _Martin Luther King Jr_

_ _

Pure white oblivion, like noting he had ever sensed before touched his consciousness. Well, that wasn't all together true. He'd been through such things similar to this in the past, like the time early in his existence when he'd gotten sloppy with his Hive's defenses and ended up with a Terran nuclear missile bombardment mere meters away. That had stung very badly but even that was no comparison to what he was sensing now. 

Through the eyes of his minions he could see absolutely nothing, feel absolutely nothing. Then he could see a dark spot form in the center of that nothingness, could sense it grow in size and complexity. Soon the dark spot became a window through which he could see the very fabric of the universe and _from_ which he could move anywhere he pleased.

But then the picture started to blur, swirl, and distort until it was once again white nothingness and with it came that very familiar feeling of a nuclear blast. _No, no, not again, I was so close! _From his dug in observation area some distance away Ko'z switched to an Overlord so as to fully witness this latest failed attempt at ripping open the fabric of time. 

The honeycombed dome structure flashed, sending out a powerful shockwave that knocked anything within a short radius to the ground. It's intense blue glow soon reverted back to it's powered down sate, and only the occasional pulses of energy made it visible in Aiur's night sky. 

Ko'z mentally relaxed, he'd been playing around with this newest of toys for quite some time and it was starting to drain him. Six of his best Hydralisks had been there conducting the actual labor portion of his experiment, Ko'z commanded the nearest Drones to cease resource gathering for the time being and clean up the mess to make way for the next group. The controls for the machine were simple, Ko'z had come to learn but they were _extremely_ sensitive and the settings to create a stable rift had to be just so. Ko'z knew he would get it eventually but for now he decided to review one of his _other_ experiments, one that was less important but far more interesting.

His third invasion attempt of Shakuras had, as expected, failed to conquer the planet and slay the Protoss. What his minions had managed to do was field test a few new tactics he'd conjured, most of which had worked beautifully until the Protoss got back on their feet. Ko'z knew he'd technically been thwarted but he didn't know precisely how, he had been forced to suspend his supervision of the last battle after he lost the ability to command effectively and had to get back to his experiments with the Xel'Naga temple. Luckily the records of the final battle were in one of his escorting Overlords and now he could review it while he waited for the Temple to be readied.

_Executor Taron, it has to be him. This plan of attack has his putrid stench smeared all over it_ There were many Protoss who had acquired a reputation among Cerebrates to go with their names. Some, like Zeratul or Artanis, instilled a sense of fear and uneasiness among his kind while others, _especially_ Taron, released nothing but pure and unrestrained rage. It was well known among Kerrigan's broods that Ko'z had set aside a nice little spot in his own personal Hell for Taron when he finally managed to do away with him, which did not seem to be any time in the near future, many would say when they thought Ko'z wasn't listening.

According to information the Swarm had stolen during a peek into the psionic gestalt of the Protoss Taron had ascended to the rank of Executor after the Conclave expulsed Tassadar, another name that could send Cerebrates into a fury, on the charge of being a heretic. Taron had led his forces with great vigor, always staying one step ahead of the Swarm. He'd been the mastermind behind crippling the Zerg invasion at Antioch, and he had later led the rebellion against the Conclave under Tassadar and Fenix. But these were not the acts for which he was hated; it was because he had been the one leading the Protoss/Terran strike force that penetrated the Overmind's defenses that his brethren cursed that name.

In the grand scheme of things Ko'z was extremely young, but that did not make him a fool. He had, and continued, to learn from the best of the Swarm's examples to better make him equipped in his primary goal, the one set forth by the Overmind upon his birth, to protect Kerrigan. Though it had never been said Ko'z knew that the Overmind had known he would perish upon Aiur, and that the heir to the Swarm would be Kerrigan. Ko'z remembered quite vividly the recent events surrounding the new Overmind, and how at first Kerrigan had been overjoyed to learn that her father would be returning, but that was before the accursed UED had shown itself in Koprulu and taken the infant by force, bending it to their will and causing permanent damage.

Ko'z had been by Kerrigan's side when they had contacted the creature to see if it could be saved.That day was one of great regrets, the creature they saw was obviously not the Overmind, and because of the UED's tinkering it never could be. It had been the turning point for Kerrigan, as she had then "enlisted" the help of the Dark Templar so as to slay that abomination and give her uncontested control of the Swarm, and with it she had sought revenge for her now twice slain father by overwhelming the remains of the UED Expedition and clamping down on this sector to ensure no more outside powers would be coming to interfere with the rebuilding of the Swarm, there could be no distractions as they bled this sector dry and finally crushed those who would dare resist them.

Ko'z was slightly startled by a light poking at his side. During his deep thought a Drone had come to tell him the preparations were complete on the Temple and another attempt could be made. Ko'z ordered the minions that he'd set aside into the Temple and once again began the long process of adjusting the space-time continuum. _Who knows? Maybe this time I shall get it right…_

***********************

**"**Conn, Sensors, we have multiple incoming contacts on hostile vectors, I evaluate them as Zerg scourge." The man at sensors noticeably flinched as he read off the bearings of the closest ones. On the small veiwscreens above his station _California _could be seen beating a hasty retreat from the rapidly advancing Swarm. There were long tendrils of plasma leaking from the warp nacelles and a noticeable piece of the bow was missing. Beside her _Providence_ blasted away with every gun battery it could bring to bear on their aggressors, every second or so there was an explosion mere meters away from her hull as her close in weapons system (CIWS) picked off the lingering scourge.

Racing directly behind the scourge was a solid wall of Guardian's, which was very bad news indeed. Ordinarily the Zerg did not delegate Guardians to anti-ship duties during battles within the gravitational field of a planet or even a platform simply because Guardians were incapable of lifting themselves up high enough to shoot at airborne targets, but in the weightless vacuum of space no such limitations were present, and their long range made them useful components in a battle, useful to the Swarm that is; Samson had come to hate the Guardians for the damage they could inflict upon his ships. Presently those Guardians were using the scourge to run interference while they got within firing range, and though scourge were easy to kill they ate up a lot of resources to keep at bay.

"Status on the Yamato canon?" Myers asked his Chief, a report from Tactical noted the weapon's generators were at 95%, not full, but full enough to fire the cannon with some effect. _Damn I wish my XO was here_ Myers cursed under his breath. But unfortunately Archer was stuck in the Medical ward after banging his head hard enough to split it open.

"Sir Yamato cannon charged and ready in all respects, we have a solution on the Swarm's main axis of attack." Myers took all of this placidly, not letting his tensions show outwardly. After all, he didn't want to spook the crew did he?

"Execute Y-Strike, now, now, now!" For the second time that hour the lights aboard the _Centurion_ dimmed and her most powerful weapon was fired in anger. The wave, set to wide spread by Tactical, spilled out over the Swarm, vaporizing the scourge that did not see it coming, and for that matter didn't care. Little green puffs added polka dots to the orange wave as it continued on, dissipating just short of the scattering Guardians. _Damn_…

"Sir, scourge threat has been momentarily neutralized, but the Guardians are regrouping." Samson frowned at that.

"Momentarily neutralized?" He asked.

"Aye sir," Master Chief Bond confirmed, "_Providence _reports strong evidence of a warp rift just outside the debris field with a river of Zerg spilling out."

"How close are we to minimum safe distance from the debris field for a warp jump?" Conn looked onto his display screen and quickly interpreted the scrolling numbers and read them off to Bond, who translated it for Samson.

"Six minutes sir if we gun the engines for all they're worth," Myers nodded to Bond and the Conning officer righted the ship on it's correct course, then sounded the warning alarm as _Centurion_ went ahead at flank speed. Myers was sure the Medical ward would be full of people sporting nasty gashes from not grabbing onto the guardrails before the sudden acceleration.

"Follow me to CIC sir, Master Chief has the Conn" Myers said as he popped the hatch behind his command chair and slid down the ladder twenty feet into _Centurion_'s combat command center where the real fighting was done. Dark, cramped, and illuminated only by the lights from the computer screens Samson had learned that here, Myers was really in his element.

"Port battery's open fire on the pursing guardians, starboard battery's clear the debris ahead of us, radio _Providence _and tell her to come to new course 2-3-9-4, standard two ship holding pattern," The men at their consoles calmly went to work, the eight turrets on _Centurion_'s port side swiveled and began to automatically fire on the guardians with mixed accuracy, the deck shuddered even more underneath Samson's feet as the starboard turrets cleared anything ahead that set off Conn's proximity alarm.

Samson found his eyes glued to the main status display screen in the center of the room, the guardians were about to enter firing range and still had five minutes to go before they cleared the field. _Centurion _thengot a little to close to somedebris and jerked violently as the port nacelle scraped against a derelict behemoth. 

"Port nacelle damaged but still functional," a light went on by the Comm officer indicating an incoming message, "_Providence_ reports she is under fire from pursuing guardians, but no serious damage yet." Almost as if the radio call had been a signal warning klaxons began to blare as the hull reverberated with the explosive impact of condensed acid balls. 

"Dedicate the CIWS to blocking as many of those shots as possible," Myers ordered before contacting Bond on the Bridge. Master Chief Bond listened for a moment and then asked for confirmation before addressing the Conning officer. 

"Conn we don't have time to blast things out of our path and proceed ahead, keep thrusters amidships and try to dodge as much of that debris as you can, we're flying balls to the walls out of here."

"Aye sir," Conn gulped as he contemplated the obstacles ahead, "thrusters amidships, all ahead flank speed Aye."

"Comm, radio _Providence_ and tell her to match our course and speed." Master Chief Bond settled back for a moment to bleed out his acquired stress. Keeping himself the calm center of the bridge could be nerve racking at times.

Back down in CIC Myers mulled over his next orders, "Bring all battery's to bear on our pursuers, try to nail them at a distance and ignore the ones who get too close. The CIWS should take care of them." The seconds passed like days, the minutes like months, and when Conn finally reported that the debris field was clearing Samson felt a hundred years older.

"We're clear of the debris field sir," Conn reported to Bond. He didn't even have to check his display screens to know that _Providence_ was in much the same condition.

"Engage your warp drive _now_ Mister!" Bond ordered making no attempt to hide the excitement in his voice. A simple twist of a lever and the stars ahead stretched into infinity for a brief second, then time aboard _Centurion_ froze. It's return was heralded by a jolt that threw some people to their feet and slammed others against the nearest bulkhead. 

Warp drives are designed for convenience, not comfort, a fact made especially true aboard military ships. "You know Chief," Samson declared as he shakily ascended the ladder back to the bridge, "maybe it's because I'm just a know nothing jarhead, but wouldn't it make sense to sound the acceleration alarm _before_ going to warp?" Bond noticed the bruise on Samson's head from banging into his visor and smiled. 

"Well sir, we wouldn't want to spoil the surprise would we? That'd take all the fun out of warp travel." Samson and rest of the bridge crew had a good chuckle at that and went back to work

"Stand down from General quarters," Myers ordered next as he came out right behind Samson, "and get me a damage assessment, Master Chief start rallying your boys and get some work crews going we banged ourselves up pretty good back there." 

"Anything my Marines can do to help?" Samson asked.

"For the moment tell them to sit ti-" Myers never got to finish the rest of his sentence before Conn's proximity alarm started to blare. Then the deck beneath them lurched as something big crashed into the hull, then detonated, a danger whose factor was increased ten fold during warp travel.

"Hull breach along the bottleneck sir, switching to external camera," Tactical announced. Static flared brilliantly as the cameras adjusted their lenses to compensate for the interference warp travel created, when the picture finally came into focus Tactical almost wished the Zerg had taken out the camera. "It's an Overlord sir, strapped right onto our hull. It must've gotten in close when we were clearing the debris field."

"Evacuate the bottleneck and seal that whole area off," Myers turned to Samson, "well General it looks like we may have some work for your men after all."

"Happy to oblige," Samson replied as he jumped back down into CIC to orchestrate the security efforts. Samson had seen the interior shots of the _Alexander_ and he'd be _damned_ if he was just going to sit back and suffer the same fate.

***********************

It was, in layman's terms, simply known as an infestation. Oh sure, the scientists had probably come up with a much more impressive name while they piddled away in their labs but for the average grunt infestation sufficed. Sergeant Baxter had always seen himself as a man with at least some luck, seeing as how he'd been able to survive this long without meeting the business end of a scythe claw, but now he was beginning to have serious doubts about how good his good luck was. _Every goddamn time I get out of dodge I slip and fall **right** back in!_

Upon returning to _Centurion_ Lieutenant Andrews had forked over the data core that contained what little information they'd gotten from the _Alexander_ and then led them on the endless march through the bottle neck of the ship back to their barracks. Of course fate, being the _bitch_ that it is, couldn't have just let them go without some sort of complication and so to accommodate Andrews and his men it'd done something that got the whole bottleneck sealed off from the rest of the ship.

Private Anderson had figured out that there were Zerg onboard long before the emergency call from the bridge, his proof in the form of a dead 'ling decomposing at his feet. Thanks to Anderson's not so brilliant revelation Andrews was now on the horn with _Centurion_'s CIC, seeing what it was they were supposed to do here in the sealed off bottleneck that connected the bow and stern of the ship.

"The word's just come from above that hull was breeched by an Overlord. CIC thinks that a Queen got in through the gap and set up an infestation node somewhere along the bottleneck. The ship's internal defenses can hold them back for a little while but it won't be long before that Queen makes a nest and we drown in Zerg. Our orders are to find the node and kill it." The marines absorbed the information as they'd been trained to, skeptically.

"How are we gonna do that elltee?" Stevens voiced. "We were loaded pretty light for that salvage Op and them 'lings didn't help matters much."

"I recall there being an armory on this deck just around the corner, we should be able to stock up there." Baxter offered as he reviewed the latest internal sensors had to proffer on his HUD. 

"Then that's where we're going sarge, Privates, cover our flank. Corporal, Sergeant you'll take point with me." The marines formed up into a rough two-man column and started forward, especially alert now that they knew there were Zerg about. Surprisingly they made it to the small armory without incident and found exactly what they'd need.

Andrews for his part, slipped out of his GI CMC armor and into Fire bat CMC. The improved protection and sensor suite suited the Lieutenant well and he took up defense while the rest of his marines frolicked through the guns like kids in a candy store. Baxter knew that this would be a serious close quarters situation and loaded his men up with M-32 shotgun as their primary weapons, gauss rifles were to be kept clamped on their backs until their shotgun became unfeasible or expended all of it's ammo. 

"Squad loaded up and ready to go sir," Baxter reported. Andrews in his intimidating bulky red armor nodded and motioned ahead, to the long lit corridors that awaited them.

Now, be aware that Andrews and his men weren't the only one's stuck with the assignment of tracking down the Infestation node, no way in hell CIC was gonna let them have _all_ the fun. At least two more platoons of men had been slipped into the bottleneck to search the other decks above and below Lt. Andrews and his Marines. They reported sparse contact with Zerg units, mostly 'lings and one or two Hydra's, but no sign of the telltale tentacles that marked an infestation in progress.

_Crunch_ "Gawd that's some sick shit," Private Alden had been on point with Andrews when the first _evidence_ of the node was discovered. At his feet was the corpse of a dead Spaceman, or to be precise the upper half of his corpse encased in a thick cover of slimy worm like tentacles that were slowly advancing.

"We would have the luck of being the one's to find it," Anderson observed with as much detachment as he could muster. The tentacles were spreading out of a bulkhead hatch; Anderson peeked through and saw that the growth had covered the lights for that corridor. 

"This is it no doubt," Andrews agreed as soon as he himself managed to take a look. "I'll radio CIC and let them know, Sarge let's be ready to move quickly. I'm betting that the moment we step on those tentacles we'll have company." Everybody thought that the Lieutenant talked too much, but never said anything about it. The habit was assumed to come with the commission.

The hatch itself had been sealed during the evacuation of this area, and something had obviously broken through it leaving a gap between the two reinforced doors large enough for a Marine to get through and barley large enough for Andrews. Once inside each man flipped his visor down and looked ahead with his IR and night vision equipment. Sensors built into the hull of a Behemoth, originally designed to monitor environmental conditions such a heat and radiation, turned out to have a useful second purpose. The Zerg have an insanely voracious metabolism and their bodies generated loads of heat, easily picked up by the sensors.

Unfortunately the infestation itself also bled off a fair amount of heat thus making it hard to spot anything out, so the internal readings were used to give a fair prediction on weather or not there was anything ahead and not used to navigate by. The Marines had their illumination lamps on just enough to let the night vision specs soak in light to see. Baxter had taken over point with Anderson at his right as they stepped lightly over as many of the tendrils as possible. 

They were approaching a corner when Baxter froze in place and his left hand came up as a sign to halt. All eyes were glued to the thermal imagers as something moved towards them. Their blood ran cool when low liquid hissing reached their external mikes.

"Hydra's," Baxter growled low in his throat, "two of them." Even through the radio everyone could hear the gears turning in his head "Anderson, move a little closer." The private complied and soon the both of them were inches from rounding the corner. "Good, now Lieutenant would you kindly take that heavy foot of yours and stomp the shit out of the nearest tentacle," Andrews smiled morbidly in his armor as he got an idea of what Baxter was up too. As requested the tentacle nearest Andrews received a good squishing.

It's effect was immediately apparent as the two Hydra's hissed even louder while slithering ahead as fast as they could to meet the invaders. The two beasts rounded the corner expecting to see their targets further up ahead but instead found their snouts stuffed in the barrel of an M-32 shotgun. Baxter and Anderson wasted no time with introductions.

The M-32 is a serious close quarters weapon. Effective up to fifty feet it fires four shotgun shells at a time giving it massive amounts of stopping power but little in the areas of accuracy and penetration. Adding a small amount of explosives into the individual pellets so that they shattered upon penetration and caused far more damage balanced this beautifully and it's effect on the Hydras was impressive.The two beasts fell lifelessly to the deck twitching slightly with blood spraying out of their mouths like water from a hydrant as the pellets disintegrated the soft tissue inside along with what passed for a brain.

_Chu-chink!_ Four empty shells fell to the deck "No use in sneaking around anymore," Baxter observed. The not so distant scampering of sharp claws on metal floors was encouragement enough. Andrews took point then and laid down a literal covering fire as the Marines advanced with weapons blazing down the corridors, following tentacles as they searched for the Infestation node. Occasionally a 'ling was stupid enough to poke it's head out from amongst the dead and it would have to be dealt with but other then that there were no other major incidents until they stopped for an update from CIC. 

_Squish_ "I think we're getting closer," Stevens noted as his boots ceased crunching on tentacles and began to squish on Creep.

"Keep an eye out for that damn thing, it's gotta be around here." Andrews said as he got off the radio net.A squad just above them had reported heavy contact with a large group of Hydra's that'd mysteriously retreated just about the same time Stevens had come onto the Creep, "and let's do this quickly, we got fans coming to say hi." At that everyone picked their pace up and checked their ammo condition. 

Creep itself remains only lukewarm in all environmental conditions, therefore it was easy to see the tentacles underneath through the IR scanners, and since the tentacles all sprouted from a central point tracking down the node would only be a matter of time.

"Got it!" Andrews said, "third hatch down, there's a massive heat signature behind it that looks like it could be the node." That hatch itself was halfway open and facing away from them when they reached it. Wordlessly everyone got into a single file line behind Andrews who borrowed a grenade from Baxter. After pulling the pin he chucked it into the room and waited until he heard the earth-shattering explosion before kicking the hatch in and opening full up with his twin flamethrowers to roast anything that may have been waiting for them. He then rushed forward and became the keystone for an arch that the Marines formed around the hatch.

"Clear forward!" Andrews called.

"Clear left!" Baxter announced next.

"Clear right!" Stevens said, finishing the security check.

"Dog that hatch shut and rig it with something that goes boom," Baxter ordered as the arched broke up. Alden got right to work on it, closing the hatch as much as possible and setting a few grenades for proximity detonation.

"Don't nobody go near that hatch less they wanna bond with the decks." Alden said. For the first time he looked around and finally saw how _big_ this room was. A quick conference with his suit's 'puter labeled it as an empty storage area, perfect place to start a nest. Further off he could see Sarge and the elltee talking about something…

"What do you think Sergeant?" Andrews asked Baxter while pointing just ahead of him where the source of the infestation was. It looked vaguely like a large human heart, a heart with every type of infection, cancer, and disease known to man. It was also large, about the size of five Marines grouped together, and the rhythmic throbbing that pushed and pulled materials through the tentacles was unsettling. Surrounding it were early stage Zerg eggs that would eventually hatch into something nasty. Baxter barely even regarded it before he replied. 

"Wax it and move on sir. This place crawls and I want out," Andrews had been thinking the same thing.

"I couldn't agree more," Andrews motioned to the rest of the squad, "line up by the node and let's finish this." Stevens and Alden had already been nearby looking at the eggs and were there instantly. Anderson was farther off and took his time walking over to them; something in the back of his mind was nagging him.

It was a soft sound, barely audible even with external mike amplification, and not unlike the sound a glider makes when it passes close by. There was only one thing aboard that could possibly make that sound.

"Queen!" Anderson yelled.

"Scatter!" Baxter commanded immediately. From somewhere far above Anderson heard something between a whistle and a cough then suddenly everyone but him was on the deck covered head to toe in green muck and unable to move. Anderson dove just in time to avoid being impaled on the Queen's tusks as she swooped in low; an angry gurgle was heard as she sped away to try for another pass.

"Aim for the wings Private," Baxter hoarsely advised, "bring that bitch down to our level." Watching the Queen through night vision scopes did nothing to make her appear less threatening as she came around and glided back towards Anderson whose shotgun was already up and firing. The Queen hadn't been expecting the Terran to recover so quickly and was surprised as thousands of pellets tore into her soft leathery wings. 

Unlike most Zerg air breeds a Queen does not utilize any sort of gas to remain aloft, relying totally on her wings for lift. Take away the aerodynamic soundness of the wings and her flight advantage was nullified. Anderson did just that, and had to once again dive out of the way as the Queen came to a crashing halt. It let our an enraged grunt before dizzily lifting it's head up with it's forward legs.

The two eyestalks swiveled to face Anderson and he found himself frozen in place. It had been long suspected that Queens possessed higher intelligence capabilities near that of a human, and looking into those eyes now Anderson found himself being logically analyzed by a thinking creature, not by one of the rabid beasts he was used to seeing. The Queen reared back and let out another angry grunt before it charged Anderson. What most people fail to realize about a Queen is that despite their frail appearance they're built as tough as a tank, he had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and only his armor kept him from being sliced in half as the Queen bucked him with her tusks.

Anderson was airborne for only a few seconds before his back impacted the cargo bay bulkhead with enough force to break his gauss rifle in half. Having lost his grip on the M-32 somewhere in the air Anderson now found himself without any firearm. From his place on the floor Anderson watched, as the Queen seemed to do something akin to a victory dance before it squealed and charged again.

Anderson was in a state of semi-shock from his bone-crunch landing. In fact Anderson was quite sure that he'd dislocated his left shoulder and busted quite a few ribs. That pain, coupled with the fear of watching something three times your size coming to impale you, made it damn near impossible for him to move. Four hundred years earlier this would've meant doom for Anderson, but fortunately he still had one option left…his stimpack.

Connected to the base of his neck was a small IV line that ran into a liquid sack that held a mixture of things, mostly adrenaline, that when pumped into the blood stream would allow an otherwise incapacitated or doomed soldier one last chance at survival. As opposed to the local stimpacks, which pushed a man into a feral rage that could become both addictive and severely damaging, the UED models made the user oblivious to pain and triggered phenomenon called time dilation where the users perception of time was dramatically slowed. Anderson hit the pressure switch on his belt to start the stim flow and relaxed to let it do the work for him.

The pain gone, Anderson rolled away just in time to avoid becoming terran on a tusk. The Queen had been caught off guard again and was stuck in the wall, a testament to just how sharp those tusk tips were. On instinct Anderson rolled to his feet and withdrew from his boot sheath his last weapon, a K-Bar fighting knife. Far removed from its twentieth century cousin this newer model was a full foot long and the edges of it were less then a molecule thick. Adding further to this was the fact that they vibrated, making the knife capable of slicing through just about anything and negating the need for sharpening.

He remained crouched in place while the Queen freed herself and came after him, now madder then ever. Anderson decided that he wasn't going to wait and threw the knife, striking the Queen in the middle of her "face", it was enough to distract her as Anderson grabbed hold of the tusks and used the remaining momentum to flip the creature on her back, exposing the chitin armored underside. Anderson was on top of her in a minute with his retrieved K-bar, now coated in fresh blood. He made no hesitations as he brought the weapon down onto were the Queen's heart supposedly was, the blade not caring a bit about the density of the chitin.

Queens could scream surprisingly loud when in extreme pain, but her struggling was useless as she could not get the leverage needed to get back right side up as Anderson held her down and slowly bled the life out. His eyes met with hers again and Anderson still saw the malicious intelligence there, they also seemed to be proclaiming that her death would be avenged. The energy then drained from those hateful eyes and the struggling stopped. Anderson rolled off the body and collapsed to the deck. His stimpack was beginning to wear off and he felt like he'd just gone to sleep in a blender.

Stevens watched as Anderson staggered and then collapsed to the deck, most likely unconscious after all that effort and _then_ the use a stimpack. Stevens knew from experience that those bastards could really take it out of you. Presently he was attempting to free himself from the restraining snot that the Queen had sprayed him with. Luckily the shit would come off eventually if you just moved around…._hot damn!_

"I'm free sarge," Stevens exclaimed.

"Good," Baxter praised, "Anderson seems fine, do the Lieutenant a favor and point his flame thrower at that pile of shit, and then we can get out of here." Stevens found Andrews facing away from the node and unable to communicate since his radio had somehow gotten busted. Stevens managed to make his intentions known with hand signals and grabbed hold of the left hand. Then, with a lot of effort, he pointed it at the node.

A simple tap on his helmet let Andrews know to empty the entirety of his napalm tanks into that one set of nozzles. The viscous jelly itself burns organic matter on contact, light it on fire and it's effectiveness is increased by a large order of magnitude. The flaming jelly sizzled as it stuck to the still beating node and gradually melted it. Seeing that he'd drenched the node enough Stevens sprayed down the developing eggs for good measure. The shrieks of the unborn creatures inside were just audible over the rushing flames, and deep down it was satisfying. 

The next series of events were something of a blur to Stevens. All he remembered clearly was enjoying the Zerg roast when something knocked him down with a great deal of force. From his spot on the ground Stevens saw that the hatch they'd rigged was now just a ragged hole in the wall with the burned body parts of Hydra's spread all around. But that was not how it remained for long. Several heads poked in, and not human heads either. The eerie light cast by the still burning nodes and eggs made them look demonic.

Seeing that the way was clear the slithering monsters proceeded inward towards the mostly helpless Marines. Stevens got up to run but was soon struck down as two spines pierced the thinnest points on his armored legs and incapacitated him from movement.

That threat neutralized for the moment the Hydra's came farther in and began to closely examine the Marines, slight bits of drool escaping their mouths. Apparently they hadn't eaten in awhile. One of them began to poke at Baxter to see what he would do; unfortunately Baxter's scathing epitaphs were not heard due to the visor, they might've actually melted the bugs in place. Confident that these humans would be easy meals the Hydra's raised their claws to strike killing blows.

Just as Andrews and his men were consigning themselves to death the Hydra's jerked their heads upwards and began to hiss up a storm. They backed away from the Marines and kept their attention on the ceiling above, some even going so far as to shoot acid spines. Almost as if in response to that action there was a tremendous _kaboom _and from above a large frayed piece of the ceiling fell onto some of the less alert Hydra's. Light from the deck above poured in as did gauss rifle fire from Marines positioned around the hole. 

The Hydra's shot back of course, and this earned them a small storm of cluster munitions. This convinced the many survivors that it was wise to move back. Ropes were flung down and Marines in full combat armor came repelling down with weapons up and shooting to keep the critters at bay. The Hydra's fell back after repeated failed attempts to stop the Terrans into the darkness of the corridor, a full platoon chasing after them.

"Bout time you guys showed up," Baxter congratulated as he was freed from the Queen snot. 

"Well we were hoping to fry that thing for you," the unnamed soldier, also a Sergeant, chuckled, "looks like you cheating bastards beat us to it." The Marine walked off to attend to the transporting of Baxter's downed men to the infirmary.

Baxter found himself with a few seconds of solitude amongst the bustle of activity. His hands were shaking now, and he had no doubts that he'd be getting more nightmares thanks to this. _Oh well_ he mentally shrugged _it's a messy fucking job _Beside him the Infestation node had finally reached it's breaking point and erupted into a volcano of flying puss, coating everyone in the cargo bay, _but somebody's gotta do it…_

********************* **

The scenery around him was something that had once seemed alien all those centuries ago, now he just thought of it as home. Night here could be as cold as the largest glacier field on Aiur, and the daytime heat rivaled that of the Barren Sands along Aiur's equator. But he himself never bothered to note the outside temperature anymore because he was always cold. True, it was this way because of the method in which he drew his life-force from the his surroundings, so very different from that of his Khalai brethren.

_My brethren_ that thought still triggered off pangs of anger and regret, that's one of the problems with resting meditation, you have to face any inner demons you may have until they are abolished for good, and the memory of his expulsion from Aiur still caused Duross no end of unhappiness. United though they were supposed to be Duross could never bring himself to fully forgive those who had betrayed and thrown him into this cold yet fulfilling existence. His only anchor to sanity had been his younger friend Nassadus who had suffered the same fate due to the Conclaves sins. He sat next to Duross now in quiet contemplation over recent events. 

The young one sitting opposite from Nassadus, Shataar, she was fortunate to have been born into this lifestyle on Shakuras without a trial by fire. Though that did not stop her from having a healthy love for her people's Home world and an equally healthy cynicism towards the lamented Conclave. Duross decided that he had done enough inner searching for the time being and broke from his mediation upon sensing that they were about to close to the capitol. He felt greatly rejuvenated. 

Duross stood and waved his hand over the blank wall of the shuttles interior. The metal dutifully turned transparent and Duross watched as Citadel City came into view. It was a sight that both moved him in a comforting way and made him proud of who he was, though the city itself was old the Khalai survivors had brought with them a love for large and grand structures that the previous Matriarch Raszagal, Adun rest her soul, had approved construction for. The pleasant blue hues of the night-lights made the city look heavenly from above.

Even for a mind as developed as Duross's it was easy for him to get into a semi-trance while admiring something. He didn't even register the landing of the shuttle until Nassadus put a hand on his friend's shoulder and mentally nudged him towards the exit, following the walking High Templar who was too drained from battle to bother with levitation.

Citadel City, no one had bothered to think of a proper name yet, was located in the province of New Antioch around the Citadel of the Dark Templar, which was quickly becoming the administrative nerve center of the Protoss civilization. All around him survivors of Aiur mixed in with those that had mere months ago been the untouchables in a caste system that was quickly fading away as other concerns took hold. This was the market place of Citadel City where his people came to buy items pf necessity; Psi pylons were a newer addition as both a power source for the buildings and as a way of supplying the Khalai followers with a stable ration of Psi to keep them alive. 

Entering the area of influence of one of these pylons made Duross feel very warm and tingly all over though his body still could not bring itself to ingest the light energies of the Khalai. The High Templar however, had a noticeable energy in his movements that hadn't been there before now that the Psi was healing his wounds and regenerating his armor. 

The street they were traveling on was wide and newly paved, bisecting this portion of Citadel City in two and providing a straight path to the Citadel itself. Traffic got thinner the closer they came and military structures became more visible. As they approached the main gates of the looming Citadel they were halted by a detachment of zealots who checked them for parasites or any hidden weapons, ignoring the psi and warp blades as those presented no significant threat of widespread destruction. The detachment let them go and continued on to interrogate others who got near the hallowed structure. 

Camouflaged photon cannons and dug in Reavers were barely visible as they approached the gates, Dragoons patrolled the perimeter and the air around them was distorted heavily with the number of Observers.The High Templar halted and sent a telepathic summons to the door guards. The ancient door quivered at it opened revealing the dimly lit interior, from out of the darkness of the high entrance door two large glowing figures emerged and took up station on either side, their steps echoed with raw power as their skin seemed to burn.The two Archons were powered down at the moment but still looked formidable as they watched The High Templar and his companions with burning eyes. 

Citadel City may be the central governing place of Protoss civilization but it was also the capitol of a people who were constantly at war, no chances could be taken that someone wouldn't use this meeting of high level leaders as an opportunity to cripple the Protoss Hierarchy. Inside the winding corridors there was no apparent security, because it was all expertly cloaked and hidden within the intricately carved walls. This corridor led into a modest sized room where many other Protoss mingled. Most of them were of the old Templar caste, with a handful of visible Dark Templar warriors present, who for the most part were silent amidst the sea of quiet conversation. 

"_So, the Matriarch has called for you as well, something is indeed brewing." _A quiet voice declared from behind Duross. He was of average height for a Protoss male, around seven feet, and wore battle armor that seemed to be a cross between a High Templar's and a Zealot's. His eyes glowed a constant dark yellow, indicating annoyance and curiosity. 

"_Executor Taron,_" The Templar exclaimed in surprise, "_How is it that you are here, I was told that you were commanding our victory over the Zerg." _

_"Indeed I was Templar, but the Matriarch saw fit to call for me towards the end of our battle, and judging by the others she has assembled the situation may be serious indeed." _He answered. Duross could not help but smile at the annoyance in Taron's voice; he hated being called away from important duty. 

"_Of course Executor, if you will pardon me I must esco-"_ Taron waved his hand.

"_Leave them with me Templar, and I will see them to the Matriarch. I want you to return to our brethren and advise them to rest, we may be called upon soon_."_ _

_"Very well Executor, until the next time. En Taro Adun."_The High Templar bowed and left to do as he was instructed.

"_Taron you need not anger yourself over the battle," _Duross assured the Executor motioning to Shataar and Nassadus, "_ we were there and the Zerg were already beaten long before we killed the first patrol._" 

"_That is not what concerns me old friend_," Taron replied with a hint of humor in his voice, "_I had intended to test some of our new technologies for dealing with the Zerg, without the information we could have gleaned from an easy battle I fear these new techniques may now be tested during dire times_."

"_What is wrong with that Executor?" _Shataar inquired.

"_Please young one, you are a student under the guidance of Duross, you need not address me so formally, and to answer your question I have not lived this long by trusting my life or the lives of my warriors to unproven technology_." Shataar could hear Nassadus cackling at her, Taron was never what anyone expected when they first met him. 

Many accused Taron of thinking so much like a human that any day hair would be sprouting on his head, but to date he had always managed to come out of a conflict either the winner or with minimal losses; those that would attack his methods had no ground to stand on. Duross had been the first of the Dark Templar to meet Taron on Shakuras when the Khalai survivors emerged from the warp rift. There had been a brief scuffle because Duross was cloaked and Taron was still on edge from the Zerg, the short fight resulted in minor injuries, a stalemate, and a deep respect between the participants. 

Shataar was about to further engage him in questioning when the ceiling darkened and doors, otherwise hidden within the walls, opened to admit the invited ones into the main chamber that acted as ceremony/governmental area. Arena type seating allowed everyone and equal view of the floor, and the ceiling was high and crystal domed, stained sections through which the light was filtered depicted the most famous of the Protoss race, including the newest and most accepted among them.

"_En Taro Tassadar, Sons and Daughters of Aiur,"_ The speaker was the newly appointed Matriarch, Zarul. Her voice, like her posture, was low to indicate her extreme age, and the amount of respect due to one who had lived so long. In Zarul's earlier years she had been a warrior of the Dark Templar and had later retired to console new arrivals, allowing Raszagal to ascend to Matriarch. With Raszagal's death Zarul had been forced to leave her previous spiritual duties and take up where Raszagal had left off, rebuilding the Protoss race from it's shattered remains.

"_I am well aware that the hour upon which I have called you is both awkward to some and inconvenient the rest. But a matter which concerns the well being of our brethren is not something that will allow us to wait_." Zarul had obviously sensed the annoyance that was clearly written upon those warriors who had been called from the heat of battle, and expertly moved to turn it into curiosity. Duross had known Zarul for many years, it had been she who'd eased Nassadus and himself into the Dark Templar ways, and was well aware that she had a gift for saying just the right things to shape her audience into the required mood.

"_What is this threat that you speak of Matriarch? The Zerg have been driven from Shakuras and our scouts report no signs of further infestation."_ The unnamed speaker was using the most respectful tone he could muster, he was once of the Judicator caste, a Conclave liaison in fact, and was not well liked by the Templar, Khalai and Dark. Zarul answered by commanding a projector to activate. 

The image was projected just above Zarul at the center of the floor. Ships, Terran ships, were engaged in a small-scale confrontation with the Zerg in some sort of debris field. The image turned to static for a second as the transmitting Observer, it had to be an Observer nothing else would have made it that close to the Zerg, skipped ahead in it's records showing the retreat of the Terran vessels into warp space. Taron made the Protoss equivalent of a wince as he watched an Overlord latch onto one of the ships just as it left the field and went into warp, those humans would be in for a rude surprise. 

"_The vessels you see before you are either reinforcements or late-comers attached to the United Earth Directorate fleet that recently caused so much turmoil. Our Observers report that it's a fleet of no more then thirty capitol ships with a standard Terran compliment of support vessels. Since they have been in system Kerrigan_," eyes darkened at the mention of that name, _"has taken an interest in eradicating them, but thus far she has failed in her goal_." The Matriarch paused for a second to let everything sink in.

"_Did you have any knowledge of this Taron?"_ Duross asked.

"_Hmm I am afraid not, my forces have been occupied with other matters." _He answered, contemplating all of the possibilities this information meant. 

"_Sons and Daughters of Aiur, this development had presented us with a unique opportunity. During the Brood War between Kerrigan and her ilk the exact intentions of the UED were never made fully known. Our contact with them has been short lived and violent,"_ many began to feel uneasiness as suspicions of her proposal entered their minds. 

"_To date we have seen no calculated action to undermine our position in this sector by the UED, but they have been aggressive when interfered with in the past. We must know what their mission in this sector is, and if it presents a direct threat to us."_ The Matriarch sighed before continuing.

"_And more then that, we need allies to call upon when times become harsh, and they will become harsh my children. Kerrigan has abandoned her attacks and left us to the morbid amusements of one of her Cerebrates, but this will not last forever. We grow stronger every day but Kerrigan is already stronger then us now, if we do not find allies we will be wiped out from this sector, we will be assimilated into the Swarm and we will lose ourselves to the twisted whims of that child." _The mood in the room, which had started as annoyed and then moved to curiosity, was now in a thoughtful phase. Her words were truthful and contained reason enough to break through even the most stubborn of pride among them. 

If they were to survive they needed allies, and since Zerg were out of the question that left only the Terrans. They too were not in good health, and unable to defeat the Swarm. If they could ally enough of them they both might stand a chance against Kerrigan when she finally decided to take up the offensive again. The Matriarch called Taron's name and the Executor stood.

"_Taron, you are perhaps the most decorated and longest surviving Executor within the Templar ranks. More then that, you are the one who has spent the greatest amount of time with Terrans. Your forces will be responsible for intercepting and communicating our offer to the Terrans of the UED." _Taron saluted and left the room to confer with his own brethren on the mission ahead, exact facts such as locations and armaments would be given later. Duross was then asked to stand.

"_Noble Duross, you are one of the finest Dark Templar Shakuras has ever seen, and so to you and your warriors I ask something extra of you. Zeratul has been missing for some time, the psychic calls we have sent after him are not being returned. We know that he still lives, but we do not know where. Duross, on this voyage I ask that you guard Executor Taron as you normally do, but I also hand you the mission of finding Zeratul, wherever he may be_. _We much to ask him surrounding the death of Raszagal and Kerrigan's state of mind._" 

"_As you wish Matriarch, En Taro Tassadar,"_ Duross bowed respectfully and left the room, using the same exit Taron had taken, Shataar and Nassadus in tow.

"_As for the rest of you that I have called here your task will be one that hopefully does not come to pass. Should this force of ships and the UED itself prove to be hostile we must eradicate their presence from this sector, the new fleet and the survivors from their ill-fated campaign, before they have a chance to gain strength and tear potential allies away from us. We must rally our forces today, so that we might overcome the battles of tomorrow. En Taro Tassadar brave Sons and Daughters of Aiur." _There was no movement from any of the Protoss in the room as the facts were taken in; if things failed they would be going to war again, then again if things proceeded as planed they would be going to war anyway, but they would live to avenge the fallen. When The Matriarch moved to exit the sound snapped most of them back into present time. The war council disbanded quickly and quietly, almost as if it had never existed….

===========

End Chapter Two =========== 

.**Admiral Kelley's Author's Notes: **Well there you have it, another chapter come and gone. Now lets see if I still have an audience left after all the time I took to write that. Don't worry folks, I'm still plugging away, slowly, but things will get done. Expect number three to be out some time in the future. Thoughts, insights, hate mail? I'll be glad to hear it, and before I forget I'd just like to add that I've spruced up Chapter One a bit so it's easier to read, and I'll be doing the same to Chapter Two when I finish with Chapter Three.

*salutes with a tin flask of Coke*

Till the next time,

Admiral Kelley out!****

**Gene Este's Beta Reader's Notes: N/A**

**Epsilon's Beta Reader's Notes: N/A**

**SCUZ's Beta Reader's Notes: N/A**

**_ _**

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